“To show a rift makes it very easy for the Republicans — that I don’t like to see,” said Harriet Sausa, 71, a retired teacher who lives in Glen Rock and is a registered Republican, even though she said she rarely voted for that party’s candidates.

She is hoping for a quick compromise.

“I do think that a lot of the things in the big bill are important,” she said, “but not enough to jeopardize the infrastructure bill.”

Sherouk Aziz and Yusuf Waiel, a newlywed couple who live in Hackensack, a midsize city, said they were watching the negotiations carefully, worried that the process could spell trouble for the future of the Democratic Party.

“This is kind of just one more issue that makes them look more divided and more broken,” said Ms. Aziz, 28, a software engineer and a Democrat who said she “votes left.”